1. Technical Field
This document relates to methods and materials involved in assessing responsiveness to lenalidomide, thalidomide, and/or other IMiDs (structural and functional analogues of thalidomide that represent a promising new class of immunomodulators). For example, this document relates to methods and materials for using cereblon (CRBN) levels to determine whether or not cancer cells are susceptible to lenalidomide, thalidomide, and/or other IMiDs.
2. Background Information
Thalidomide was used a sedative in the late 1950s and later withdrawn from use due to its teratogenicity. Because of its antiangiogenic activity, thalidomide was recently used to treat multiple myeloma, but its overall mechanism of action is unknown.